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A successful week for Irish music all-round! Firstly congratulations to Jape on winning the Choice Music Prize - many have already said it went to the nicest man in Ireland and of those on the final shortlist, he was certainly amongst the most deserving. Halfset made a really good album and R.S.A.G. certainly set tympanics trembling with Organic Sampler but in the end the award went to one whose music played truly massive role in 2008. Despite fear and suspicion on the night due  to the presence of David Holmes and The Script, Richie Egan is now wealthier to the tune of ten thousand fruits and a smooth celebratory trophy declaring Ritual the most critically-acclaimed Irish album of 2008. Thank you Jape.
There’s an interview with Choice founder Jim Carroll over on Analog. It’s a decent read…have Phantom really been binning bands’ CDs? In this age of carbon neutrality I thought unwanted promos found a home in charity shops. It’s all a wicked lie!

Salulations are also in order for Falter Ego who won the DIT Battle of the Bands in Think Tank on Wednesday (by the by, how fantastic is the new Cylon ceiling in the Eustace Street club?! Totally makes up for the naff Diet-Cokesque mural and porn-star toilets…!) Falter Ego beat off competition from Bojangled, Flying Columns and The Harm to win the first heat. Myself and two judges from Drop-D were level-pegging at 3/4 time and prepared for a fight amongst Indies when the three metallers rocked on and settled the score with four great, catchy songs. Look forward to hearing from you lads but if I can make one teeeny suggestion - introducing online visitors to your music with “The Official…Myspace Page” is a bit naff. Just sayin….

Before I launch into the plethora of upcoming releases and shows, take a moment to consider Parhelia’s words on the effects of illegal downloading on small bands.
The Dublin post-rockers released Shifting Sands in early February and yet to date there have been over 500 downloads from one filesharing site alone - more than the album’s total legitimate sales. That ain’t cool. Support your local music industry people - it’s the only way to survive without selling out.

Amongst others, this Saturday 7 March sees two entirely different gigs: Angel Pier, A Lazarus Soul and Lines Drawing Circles take over Andrews’ Lane Theatre - LDC also play Hideaway House in Deansgrange the following night, Sunday - you can read Angel Darragh’s Soundtrack over on Drop-D.

The other gigging biggie is The Urges in Whelans, also tomorrow - biggie because it’s their last Irish date before they descend on the not-so-sleepy town of Austin, Texas for SXSW….did you know the city has a bat population of 1.5 million? Sounds like a kind of haven!

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“Developing at breakneck” doesn’t sound like the healthiest start to a year but despite juggling a full-time band and 9-5 job, things couldn’t be better for Rupert Morris. Not even fatigue can burst the creative bubble surrounding BATS‘ debut album, already one of the most highly anticipated Irish records of 2009.

“We’ve been super-busy getting everything ready to go to Salem next week to record our album with Kurt Ballou. Can’t remember what a free weekend is like. We played Cork on Saturday night. Rushed home on Sunday to finish writing the last song. Song 11. Before that we were wading through the click-track swamp for weeks. We’re on track now. We’ve been spitting out some of these songs easier than expected. Some not so easily but there’s definite buzz coursing through our neurons. We’re like kiddies the night before Christmas, knowing what presents we’re getting but not knowing what they look like.”

Hanging BATS

“We” are lyricist Rupert, conjoined with Craig Potterton and Conor McIntyre to bring the guitar tally to three, backed by Timmy Moran on bass and drummer Noel Anderson. Vocal roles range across the board. Martha Washington is their missing link, a band of which no trace remains: many months elapsed before the songs were fully weaned but since BATS hatched in late 2005 their music has grown into an instinct-driven freak like nothing Ireland’s ever known. When the progressive metal enthusiasts released their Cruel Sea Scientist EP on the Armed Ambitions (now incorporated into The Richter Collective) label just over a year ago, it was to an uncertain future. Diversifying rapidly, was alternative rock scene quite ready for 15 minutes’ textbook-thumping?

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Pinnacle of independent Irish music stores Road Records has announced plans to close in coming weeks. Dave explained the reasons behind the closure in a very touching post.

Its been an absolutely amazing eleven years for us and neither of us regret one single second of it, when we close I will not be looking back on wasted time in any way.
We have made some amazing friends through the shop and have had the pleasure of dealing with some truly fantastic bands [and their members].
Without blowing my own trumpet I do think Dublin will be a worse place without us as I think from day one we were always the most approachable store for Irish bands and their independent releases, it was one of the main reasons for setting up the store [some of you may remember the fact that I spent most of my youth plugging away in bands with nowhere to sell our music] and we have always tried to be as supportive to local music as possible, mainly because people in this country make music as good as if not better than anywhere else but have never had a proper outlet to sell it. We have always had a policy to make sure to play Irish music in the store so people in here can hear it and understand the quality and diversity of music being made in Ireland. If we heard something that excited us then we would always go out of our way to promote it as much as possible both in the store and on the site.

I don’t really need to spell it out, do I, what a landmark this store is, how much it’s done for musicians and customers alike, its working ethic of love and respect for quality music? I’m not gonna bore ya with recession waffle - the point is, Dave and Julie are the two soundest people you could meet in Dublin and the fact they run a record store, bending over backwards to source every whim and whisper is an added bonus.

Hot Press spoke to Dave about the news.

Please, please, please, get down to Fade Street in the next few days and pick up some records, soak in the bare board floor, the sunny yellow sign and easy-browsing vibe of this flagship store…it will soon be no more. A tenner and your time. Pick up the records nominated for this year’s Choice Music Prize or those that didn’t make the grade. Educate your family. Be generous to your friends. Or buy something new - JulieDave have great taste and can recommend something awesome.
I’m not sure what will happen with the website, if they might keep the Road brand as an online store. It’s too late to save the shop - for several months now they’ve been struggling and ploughed every penny they have into keeping Road Records afloat. A final valiant effort from their supporters may go some way towards paying off horrendous debts incurred. It’s a small mark of appreciation to acknowlege everything they’ve done to support decent, hard-working bands and artists in this country. There’s talk of a benefit gig and I’ll keep you posted on any developments but the best thing you can do is drop in and let them know you’ll be sad to see them go.

I’m not alone in stating I’m going to miss them terribly.

*EDIT* 16/01/09 - Thanks to Liamo for the title. We both copped the same headline so he kindly shared his second choice. Which is even nicer, really, just like his tribute…*EDIT*

*EDIT* 17/01/09 - Several musicians have announced efforts to support Julie and Dave by donating all the sales profits of records over the next few weeks. There’s a thread on Thumped if you want to get involved. They are:

Adebisi Shank
Adrian Crowley
The Bastard Rain
BATS
Brian Cullen’s Love Bullets
Butterfly Explosion
Cascade Sounds
Crayonsmith
Decal
The Dudley Corporation
GiveAManAKick
Groom
The Holy Ghost Fathers
The Hollows
Hooray For Humans
The Jimmy Cake
The Kybosh
Land Lovers
Large Mound
LPX
Marvins Revolt
Moutpiece
Mumblin’ Deaf Ro
My Brother Woody
Northstation
Omelette
The Redneck Manifesto
Rest
So Cow
The Spook Of The Thirteenth Lock
Stoat
Story of Hair
Subplots
Terrordactyl
Ten Past Seven
Vimanas
The Vinny Club
Windings

The record labels backing artists involved are
Out On A Limb
Slow Loris
Richter Collective
Risc Records

There probably are more musicians involved via the record labels but I don’t know who/what is still available. Please let me know if you hear of more and I’ll add the name.
This is absolutely sound of the bands involved and fair play to all. It’s great to see loyalty is appreciated and rewarded. Go Road Aid!